Review of the property sales market in the Motueka area in March 2014

March 13th
By Alan Atkins, Ray White Motueka

[Editor's note: Ray White Motueka is the Principal Sponsor of Motueka Online, and one item of assistance it provides is a regular, general update on the state of property sales in the area. The reports do not contain any promotion of Alan's company, but are provided purely for informational purposes]

REINZ, the most up to date source of real estate data in New Zealand, announced that there were 6,125 dwelling sales in the month of February. The national median price of $415,000 was an increase of $13,000 or 3.2% from January.

Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) Chief Executive Helen O'Sullivan says, "The results for February show further evidence that the national sales volume trend is easing, with only two of 12 regions showing an increase in sales volumes compared to February 2013.

"The lift in the national median price may be evidence of more activity taking place in higher price brackets, beyond the reach of most first home buyers. Despite the total number of sales being down 7.6% compared to February last year, the number of sales in the $600,000 to $1 million price bracket is up 9.2%.

"This may indicate that while first home buyers are mostly sitting on the sidelines, the focus on the market has moved to higher price ranges, with a subsequent upward influence on the median price."

Compared to January the median price across the Nelson/Marlborough region fell by $26,000 (-6.8%). Sales volume compared to January increased by 20.7% with only Richmond seeing a fall in the number of sales.

Helen O'Sullivan notes that "first home buyer activity remains muted across the region, although in parts investors are taking up the slack. Open home attendances are down and vendors are realistic about price expectations and not overly influenced by the activity in the Auckland and Christchurch markets."

For our local Motueka market we had a steady month, with listings down on the previous month and sales up. Sales for the month exceeded new listings which is a rarity.

The median freehold house price nudged up to $430,000 but rather than indicating any leap in property prices our local market appears to be experiencing the national trend of weak demand by first home buyers and more interest in property in the higher price brackets.

The median days on market dropped back to 81 and I would expect a further reduction next month given the current listing to sales ratio.

Moving in to the autumn with consideration for the variables around interest rates and first home buyers, it appears there will be a good market for mid-range properties and a slightly weaker market for those in the first home/investor range.

(Statistics quoted in this article are sourced in-house and from REINZ and Realestate.co.nz. While we endeavor to keep the figures as accurate as possible they cannot be guaranteed.)

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